What is this Fool's Journey?

The Fool's motto : 'Numquam discere a experientia' - 'Never learn from experience'...

This Fool's Journey started on Thursday 24th November 2011 at 21:30 in the Training Room at Bournemouth Hospital.

I had just enjoyed a wonderful presentation on Virginia Satir's Categories given by three of my colleagues at the NLP Dorset Forum - Belinda Thompson, Mark Shaw and Shoshi Ostrove. In fact I think I was still sitting there processing all that they had presented... really in a semi-trance...

Brian Morton (one of the Founders of the NLP Dorset Forum) asked the question "So, are there any volunteers to present at the January Forum Meeting?"...

...and it was as if some paternal hand rested on my shoulder (although no hand was there)... and I heard myself saying "I'll do it..."

Brian then said..."and do you know what the topic is that you'd like to present Mike?"

...and once again, I heard my disembodied voice saying "Yes... I will give an overview of Jung's teachings on the Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious... and the use of Tarot and Mandalas in Jungian Therapy..."

Now, no-one was more surprised than me to hear these utterences... These were topics that I knew next to nothing about... but I was committed...!!!

...and so the Journey began... an intense Journey of Discovery that is by no means finished (and will probably never finish)... that has taken me through Jung's theories and through the Mystical and non-Mystical aspects of the Tarot deck.

I have become fascinated by the beauty, the history and the allegory of the Tarot deck and its applications... and have seen how Jung's thought processes preceded my own... I see that the paths that I travel already bear his footprints...

So... the night of Thursday January 26th 2012 arrived and I had the pleasure of sharing what I had discovered with 66 members and friends at The NLP Dorset Forum.

From their reaction, I could see that they were also inspired to look further into this interesting blend of subjects and I sincerely hope that we can continue this journey together and record our travels here in this blog.

I won't be dealing with Cartomancy, Divination or the Occult applications of the Tarot as they are very adequately dealt with elsewhere on the web... If you are interested in these areas, or want to buy a Tarot deck, then may I suggest that a good starting point is the 'Aeclectic' site, and here is the link.... 'Aeclectic'

Just one final note... throughout this blog, I shall be using the Rider-Waite Deck for illustrations... the only reason for this is that it is the most widely used deck in the English-speaking world.... and is a deck that most people will acquire at some time...